1. Field of the Invention
The invention refers to the field of sporting goods and specifically to the aerodynamic design of a golf club head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous ornamental designs for the golf club heads exist which are protected by design patents, but with respect to the scientific principles of golf club head design, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,756 entitled GOLF CLUB IRON, and the patents cited during the prosecution thereof, namely U.S. Pat. No. 1,690,388 to Waldron and U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,299 to Lawrence et al.
The scientific principles, which are applied to a golf club in accordance with the present invention, are described in Spanish Patent No. 9300372, entitled "IMPROVED FUSELAGE IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE STABILIZATION EFFECTS IN AIR VORTICES", filed by the present inventor. As described therein, the concept of the well accepted D'Alembert Paradox is that, if a fluid does not detach from a solid as the solid passes through the fluid, then the drag caused by the fluid is nil (the ideal frictionless fluid).
The detachment of the fluid from the solid, and hence the drag, is believed to be a phenomenon caused by a boundary layer between non-ideal, frictional fluids (flow subject to drag over the surface of the solid). Sucking or blowing this "parasite" fluid from the boundary layer is thought to minimize the problem of detachment and drag.
The present invention is based upon a recognition by the present inventors that the D'Alembert flow pattern described above is not valid from a physics standpoint because it originates and disappears at two specific points: source and sink, which means that speed in the center of the flow pattern has an infinite value. Accordingly, the present invention relates to a new flow pattern, which invalidates the currently accepted D'Alembert Paradox.
With the flow pattern developed by the present inventors, as described in Spanish Patent 9300372, the fluid, even if it is ideal and possesses zero viscosity, will detach if the solid profile is not sufficiently tapered.
Thus, bearing in mind that curved streamline patterns provide an additional radial pressure component in the form of centrifugal or centripetal force, a fairing (or part of a fairing) is required that does not hinder fluid detachment, but instead favorably controls this unavoidable phenomenon by minimizing the drag.
The above-described scientific principles are applied to a golf club head in accordance with the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 1 shows a representation of a section of the head 1 of a prior art golf club 2. When this golf club 2 is in use, the head moves through the air in a curved trajectory identified by reference numeral 3, so that its face 12 hits on the corresponding ball.
During this movement of the head 1, patterns of air flow 5 are produced that fall from and drag the head in question. As mentioned in Spanish Patent No. 9300372, air flows 5 give rise to air vortices 6 that rest on the surface 4 and cause turbulence.
The problem to be solved is to minimize the drag upon the golf club head, whose length is restricted, and which is thus insufficiently tapered, and will inexorably produce fluid detachment with resulting aerodynamic drag and vibration.